Free Scientologists

Well the problem is that Justin is like many, Theo. I am doing my best to see any redeeming qualities in Scientology but I can't personally see any besides it being of personal benefit to someone who only knew Scientology. It does a terrible job of explaining basic concepts. It abuses scientific and religious terminology to give credability to what is essentially a pseudoscience. I try to be more understanding though.

I would also give some serious thought to researching Mr Hubbard as well, theo. You will realise rather quickly that he was a disgusting example of a human being, the very anti-thesis of what you aspire to be. Sorry if that is offensive to you, but it is completely true. I've not been antagonistic to this point, afterall, but there are some things that cannot be glossed over. Hubbard was a horrible man.

Theo -- There is nothing to research, the tech has never been researched. It is unresearchable because there is no testable hypothesis for the tech.

LRH supposedly tested this stuff on himself, then somehow came to the conclusion that the images he may or may not have seen and the experience he may or may not have had would universally benefit every human every where. Nevermind that he may have been having a series of strokes, or psychotic episodes, or gee, perhaps he was lying. There is nothing here for me to trust.

Some people claim to have positive experiences with the "tech", some have had terrible or at least not very useful experiences with the tech. So we know that the claim that the tech is universally beneficial is false.

Maybe you're suggesting that we join the Church, or submit to an unproven diagnostic technique, or churn through the mountains of disjointed and poorly reasoned text, because apparently that is the only research anyone can do that counts for you.

I wouldn't buy a car from someone under those circumstances, much less choose a spiritual path.

I respect your ability to make choices for yourself, and I think that being able to make choices without force is the basis for human dignity and human liberty. But with choice comes the responsibility to face criticism, which you are doing with admirable good will. The Church however, hasn't chosen to do face criticism and so it can't be taken seriously. It is an enemy of human diginity and increasingly we see a stupid one at that.

[Tru2form]

I rarely post in here considering how anti sci I am, but I just wanted to chime in and say that I have read the material, including the OT levels, L rundowns, Superpower TR's (yeah, wtf) and even the base material.

The basic principles of scientology are purely based on early psychology work, which would be ironic if it wasn't so obvious. Most people could see that pretty quick but KSW keeps people too busy, too cautious and too tired to do anything but KSW.

I can admit that some of the earlier material can be useful for people that lack in certain areas. It can really Jackhammer an effective routine into someone's brain, which could help many people if applied correctly. The problem is however, that KSW itself is incorrect and damaging in the long term unless you are capable of 9000% always applying KSW to it's fullest. Of course, problems (RPF, being downstat, etc) arise when failure to do so happens, whether through fault of your own or not.

The "religious" aspect of scientology is also plagiarized from pretty much everything+bad star trek. It is used as a cloak, a shield, defense from persecution and a way to attack critics by citing religious hatred. When L.Ron himself said they were only using religion for taxes and protection that arguement loses any weight in my book.

The Idea of a spirit, or thetan or soul or whatever you want to call it isn't a unique one, every religion ever invented anywhere ever has had some view on the spirit, some stranger then others. Believing your soul is under attack by thousands (millions?) of tiny alien souls however, is just bullshit to me. People may believe what they want, but as a free human being, I have the right to believe it is full of shit, especially when it comes at a price tag of around 379,000$US at last estimate several years ago.

Now add in the front groups, the lawyers, the stories of abuse and harassment, lawsuits and threats, deceit coercion and manipulation that have been the very core of scientology as soon as it was capable and most people would have to tell themselves that something is wrong over in Sci land.

And all this is BUILT IN, it's part of KSW, and if you aren't KSW you aren't gonna have a chance of being upstat and then you may have to start paying for sec checks from bob. Bob is a friend and a nice guy, but if he doesn't discover your crime, he won't be KSW and he may get sec checked and on and on.

I could go on, one of the reasons I protest Scientology is because it is such a large and complicated organization. They spend tens of millions hiding the truth from the public, but if this is the image we get from just the information that has been leaked, the grand scope and reality of it must be all the more frightening.

All the power to you if you find something there that works, but I say that you could have found that elsewhere for cheaper (i.e free)


*Edit* Wow, that sounds harsh. Don't take it that way please =D. I have no hate on scientologists or people that it helped, I do see how the early stuff can help people but the whole thing is designed to suck them in, take their money and leave them slaves to the owners of scientology. You would need to cut out like 85% of everything scientology to get something truly beneficial to the human race out of it. I'm starting to criticize again so i'm gonna stop now.

I wouldn't believe a damn thing Hubbard said, Theo. The man was a crackpot and speaking as an actual physicist, had little to no idea of what makes up the universe.

Can I suggest an alternate route? A man who actually did know what he was talking about but who could see spirituality in the universe?

http://www.carlsagan.com/

Compared to Sagan, Hubbard's disjointed worthless ramblings are a joke Compared to nearly anyone, Hubbard is a joke.

Please do me a favour and read Sagan's works. I've already read through Hubbard's, I have been reading Hubbard's works (despite my better judgement) for the years I have been involved in learning about and understanding what makes the cult of Scientology tick. I only ask you do the same.